Downtown Vancouver For First Time Visitors Downtown Vancouver is a fluid concept, as it runs into both the West End and the Downtown Eastside. Roughly, it is the area bounded by Burrard Street on the west, False Creek on the south, Vancouver Harbour on the north, and from the corner of Cordova and Granville to Science World, on False Creek on the east side. It's not a large area, and can easily be crossed in less than an hour's walking. That's a good thing, considering the traffic nightmare that is downtown Vancouver. Leave the car farther out, and take the SkyTrain. You'll save yourself a lot of headaches.
	Flightseeing Vancouver Helicopters offers tours of Vancouver and the surrounding area from their terminal on Vancouver Harbour. Tours last from a few minutes to 45 minutes. Fly around the city, or around the spectacular coast mountain range at Vancouver's back door. For something completely different, Vancouver Helicopters offers a "Fly and Dine" package. Fly to the top of Grouse Mountain, where you'll spend a few hours exploring before dinner in the Grouse Nest Restaurant, overlooking the city. A limousine will return you to downtown Vancouver at the end of the day. The Helijet terminal is located at 455 W Waterfront, next to the SeaBus Terminal.
	Harbour Centre Seattle has the Space Needle, Toronto has the CN Tower and Vancouver has the Harbour Centre. Compared to the former two, Harbour Centre is just a wanna-be, weighing in at a mere 167 metres (553 feet). Even so, the views from the slowly rotating observation deck are still pretty impressive-the best man-made viewpoint in Vancouver. Then again, you don't need to get very high. Although the downtown core is growing upwards, Vancouver is still a short city. A brief presentation and informative plaques around the perimeter of the observation deck will help you get your bearings and identify local landmarks. Scout out your trip through downtown Vancouver from here, or stop here at the end of your day for dinner in the Top of Vancouver Restaurant, one floor above the observation deck. The ride up the glass elevator is pretty cool too.